Freeview: Mendip (Somerset, England) full-Freeview transmitter
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Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth51.237,-2.626 or 51°14'12"N 2°37'33"WBA5 3LB

Transmitter fauls and engineering works

MENDIP transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Weak Signal from 11:32 on 15 May to 12:33 on 15 May. BBC
Over the next week Mendip main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, no analogue radio, Radio (digital) working normally. Digital tick
Want to better understand the current TV faults? See the all new UK Free TV page


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The symbol shows the location of the Mendip transmitter which serves 720,000 homes.

Other maps:Mendip DABMendip regionBBC WestWest

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Mendip transmitter Freeview broadcasts

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below. The rating shown takes in account the output power level and the various Freeview transmission modes and do not indicate an ongoing fault.

MuxEffective power level, aerial positionRatingModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
1 BBC One West, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 301, plus 12 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C49 (698.0MHz) from 591m datum.
PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
3 ITV (West), 4 Channel 4 South ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 South ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (West),
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C54 (738.0MHz) from 591m datum.
PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal
Maximum256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s
DVB-T2 MPEG4		100,000
Channel icons
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Meridian Southampton), 104 Channel 4 HD South ads, plus 1 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C58 (770.0MHz) from 591m datum.
COM4
SDN
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5*, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 22 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C48 (690.0MHz) from 591m datum.
COM5
ArqA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
 TV News,  TV Stars, 11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, plus 9 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C56 (754.0MHz) from 591m datum.
COM6
ArqB
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		100,000
Channel icons
15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 21 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C52 (722.0MHz) from 591m datum.


Regional news from the Mendip transmitter


BBC Points West 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS8 2LR, 25km north
to BBC West region - 60 masts.

ITV West Country News (East) 0.9m homes 3.4%
from Bristol BS4 3HG, 23km north
to ITV West region - 61 masts.

Self-help relays

CheddarTransposer15 km E Weston-super-Mare1674 homes
LuccombeActive deflector6 km w Minehead38 homes

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1984-971997-981998-20102010-1327/3/13-2013-182019-
aerial groupC/D EEEC/D EC/D EWK
C22SDN
C25ArqA
C28ArqB
600C33com7
C35com8
C37C5C5
C40BBCB
C43D3+4
C46BBCA
C48SDNSDNSDN
700C49 BBCABBCA
C51local
C52ArqBArqBArqB
C54C4C4C4D3+4D3+4D3+4
C55+2
C56+CArqAArqAArqA
C58BBC1BBC1BBC1BBCBBBCBBBCB
C59+1
800C61ITVITVITVBBCA
C62+A
C64BBC2BBC2BBC2
C65+B
C67D

orange background for multiplexes names moregreen background for transmission frequencieslilac background for power levels in watts800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 24th March and 7th April 2010.

  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Bristol could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Mendip transmitter using C51
  • COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM7 and COM8 to operate as Bristol Ilchester Crescent,Bristol Kings Weston, Mendip SFN.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4 500kW
Analogue 5(-6dB) 126kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW

History of Channel 3 in the Mendip transmitter area

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Mendip was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.


Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Susannah
Thursday 26 July 2007 12:08PM
Hi, hope you can help.

I live in the Chippenham area and we used to get all the freeview channels on our freeview box, apart from the odd blip when a train goes past! But almost overnight, we lost all the channels apart from the BBC ones. Can anyone help? Have tried re-booting but it remains the same.

thanks

Susannah
RichardW
Sunday 29 July 2007 1:26PM Swindon
Looking at some of the other comments there seems to be a theme here with Freeview reception. Here in Swindon, Freeview working with no issues at all up until recently but now we are only able to receive BBC and Sky channels, all of the other channels have either dissapeared completely or are unwatchable on occassions. The Freeview box has been reset and re-connected but this has had no effect. Has any one heard why the low power channels, ITV, Channel 4, Five, etc, have got so bad recently? Thanks.
Jeff Eastmond
Monday 13 August 2007 2:41PM
I read with interest all the details of engineering works and comments from other viewers. My situation is completely different. I live in Clevedon (BS21) and the channels I'm having most difficulty with are the BBC ones. Heavy pixelation at various times of the day, whatever the weather, makes watching BBC1 impossible at times. BBC2 occasionally does the same, but not nearly as often, and Three is similar but not so heavy on the pixelation. Channel 5 also affected occasionally, as is the Teletext channels. I have what I have been reliably informed is a digital-compatible aerial, with a booster/splitter in the loft as near as possible to the aerial, and when first installed, everything was fine. Problems started late May and have been getting steadily worse ever since...
Briantist
Tuesday 14 August 2007 8:32AM
Jeff Eastmond: I can't really say without your full postcode.
nick
Tuesday 21 August 2007 10:38AM Gloucester
Hi, since putting up my aerial about 6 weeks ago signals on mux 2 ch55 (itv ch4 etc) have progressively worsened to the point where i rarely get any signal now.
my box classifies signal from poor, medium, good, v good.
When first installed signals on ch 55 were poor to medium and all other muxs were medium to v good. Even a poor signal on ch 55 provided a reliable service. I am using a high quality antifferance aerial home made 16db masthead pre-amp good quality low loss coax. All components in the system have been checked and aerial adjusted without any improvement.
So i must conclude there is a problem in the transmission and this seems a familliar theme having read other coments about mux 2.
Why are we suffering such a poor service? it dosnt inspire much confidence in DTV.
My postcode is GL5 2EL (yes I know I'm not really in the coverage area but as I said other muxs provide v good signals from the same TX)
Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.
Mike Wonham
Tuesday 21 August 2007 11:18AM Bridgwater
Postcode TA7 9QD, getting no BBC4 signal at all, Channel 5 occasional breakup and Film4 occasional failure. Using a Topfield box with a standard aerial. Any ideas?
Briantist
Tuesday 21 August 2007 12:32PM
nick: You would probably have more success with the Ridge Hill transmitter as it provides a stronger signal to your location.
Briantist
Tuesday 21 August 2007 12:36PM
Mike Wonham: Please pop your postcode into www.ukfree.tv link icon Find out how to receive Freeview | ukfree.tv - independent digital TV and switchover advice - you will see that you have a number of transmitter options - you may find that using another one will give consistant reception.
nick
Tuesday 21 August 2007 5:01PM Gloucester
Thanks for replying to my message so quickly, I have tried Ridge Hill and although I get a strong analoue signal it was equally poor on digital, I guess due to low power, used to lose MUX A when it rained and MUX 2 was too weak most of the time, also not able to receive two of the MUXS as Stroud relay is on the same channels. So the only reliable signals were the BBC ones. Thanks again, nick
Briantist
Tuesday 21 August 2007 5:35PM
nick: Is your aerial on the roof? Can you mount it higher? Can you swap it for a 100-element Class I aerial?
Alecs Kerr
Wednesday 22 August 2007 1:47PM
Until a couple of days ago I have received a good Channel 5 and Five Life picture using a Digilogic box. On monday the picture was breaking up and freezing. I have rerun the set up and now lost them both. Is this due to any work being carried out on the transmitter?
Briantist
Wednesday 22 August 2007 7:46PM
Alecs Kerr: It could be (see the red text at the top of the page) - try scanning again after 6pm
Avon tv Aerials of Bath
Monday 3 September 2007 1:40AM
yes alec im sure theres been intermittent problems last weekend till at least monday night between bbc1 to ch5, within 20 mins i had a number of calls from customers mainly in fringe locations, one of which i visited and monitored with my meter,for a couple of hours, analog was ok on all five channels
Lee
Monday 3 September 2007 3:58PM Wellington
Briantist, I'm having reception problems too. My Postcode is TA218AX.

My aerial is a high gain unit, as we are in a difficult area for tv reception from the mendip transmitter.

Is there any other transmitters available for the HTV West TV area i could use instead?

Freeview channels are breaking up on the stronger channels, and the weaker ones are non exsitent.

Everything was ok a few weeks ago. So why the change?

Thanks
Briantist
Monday 3 September 2007 4:05PM
Lee: From your description - a loss on all channels - the most likely explanation is damage to a cable or connector (inside or out) or the aerial being misaligned. You don't have any other transmitter options, I'm afraid, unless you want to switch to Freesat (only £79 right now! www.ukfree.tv link icon Sky Freesat - half price | ukfree.tv - independent digital TV and switchover advice ) - if you have to fix the aerial you can get Class I 100-element aerials for around £40...
G.Spencer
Friday 7 September 2007 10:15AM
Having had good freeview reception for a month signal strength on all channels now very low. Signal mseems weakest on BBC1 and 2.
Barnster
Wednesday 12 September 2007 1:10PM Bristol
Have been reading these posts over the last few days and thought I'd offer a little glimmer of hope to those having signal problems. My new Pana TV with DVB tuner struggled to receive the channels broadcast on MUX A (C62). The TV showed the signal STRENGTH for this MUX to be weak to medium but the signal QUALITY to be v.bad to none existent (other channels were medium for both quality and strength). By simply fitting a shielded wall socket (£5 from B&Q) and replacing the AV flylead with a shielded cable having gold connectors (digital cable kit - £5 from B&Q) I now have maximum 10/10 signal QUALITY for ALL freeview broadcasts. I'm in the BS32 area with a newish aerial in the attic and a 10-15yr old downlead to the wall socket.
Briantist
Thursday 13 September 2007 9:20AM
Barnster: Yes, the quality of the signal is always down the condition of the weakest part of the connection.
Clive Palmer
Thursday 13 September 2007 6:52PM
We are situated at BA213PR,Yeovil. Until recent weeks our digital TV reception has been very good. Lately the signal has been freezing or breaking up mostly on BBC 1 & 2 and 10 but other channels can be affected.
We live on a hill within sight of the Mendip transmitter. There ahs been no changes to the ariels and all three sets are affected.
Briantist
Friday 14 September 2007 9:21AM
Clive Palmer: If all sets are effected, then the problem will be with something that they all share, so the aerial, cables, masthead amplifier or distribution box.
Liz Morrison
Sunday 16 September 2007 1:44PM Blakeney
I live in the forest of dean and until very recently I could get ITV 2 perfectly alright for some reason I cannot get this any longer it just says NO SIGNAL and on the TV list it says NO DATA why is this and what can I do??? Help
Anona Baker
Thursday 20 September 2007 10:28AM
We live near the coast on the Somerset Levels between Bridgwater and Burnham on Sea. We have two Freeview boxes running form the same rooftop aeriel with a booster in the loft. One box has been in position for 3 years is working ok (with the very occasional freezing). The second has worked well for 18 months until around 4 weeks ago when it regularly shows no signal. If left switched on it will start to pick up channels but the picture breaks up and sound cuts out - more off than on. Digital readio channels are mainly ok but one or two lose sound especially when the id text appears on screen. Is this a faulty box or could it be the aeriel?
Briantist
Thursday 20 September 2007 10:35AM
Anona Baker: It could be the box, or the aerial connection to the box, or perhaps a power failure on the booster.
Luke
Monday 24 September 2007 6:03PM Swindon
I have the same problem as: RichardW on Sunday 29th of July 2007

Freeview of good quality until start sep now I can only get sky, bbc etc but no ch4, e4, + others.

Any news on this????
Anthony
Sunday 14 October 2007 4:29PM
I live high on the south west side of Portishead and receive my signal from Mendip. I have two boxes on separate aeriels. Untill recently I have had excellent reception on all channels but for the past 4-6 weeks Channel 30 (Freeview UK History, Sky 3 etc) has been very weak (30-35%) which causes the picture to break up. All other channels are fine, typically 80-85% strength. I have tried swapping the boxes over but it makes no difference. I have looked at the various web sites and it appears to me that the channel 30 line up should come through equally as strong as all the other channels.Has anyone got an answer

Anthony
Monday 15 October 2007 10:24PM
Thank you Briantist.
Further to my earlier comments I now realise that the Ch30 Mux c is NOT broadcast by Mendip but by Kings Weston. My aeriel is pointed directly at Mendip. Kings Weston is at roughly 90 degrees to it so I do not understand why I am picking up Mux C from Kings Weston. Somehow I need to force the box to ignore any signal from Kings Weston and Focus on C 56 from Mendip. Has anyone any suggestions?
Charlie Moores
Tuesday 16 October 2007 9:36PM Chippenham
I live in Chippenham (Wilts) and overnight (or so it seems) our Freeview reception has come back EVEN IN THE RAIN (hurrah). Does anyone know why? I'm not compliaing just intrigued. Thanks very much.
Briantist
Wednesday 17 October 2007 8:12AM
Charlie Moores: Your installation must need some attention - if changes in the weather effect it.
Stephen Rice
Wednesday 17 October 2007 8:54AM
Hi, I live in Bath. Up to two weeks ago, we had a really good signal both Analogue and Digital but from about two weeks ago reception on all channels got worse and have all but lost MUX B (goes in and out with lots of uncorrectable errors). Is there any work going on at Mendip meaning they are transmitting at lower power? Or has a bird (or very low plane!) done something bad to my aerial?
Any thoughts/suggestions would be great.
TIA
Briantist
Wednesday 17 October 2007 10:05AM
Stephen Rice: There is no BBC fault with this transmitter, please see the www.ukfree.tv link icon Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent digital TV and switchover advice page for more help.
Stephen Rice
Wednesday 17 October 2007 11:10AM
Hi Briantist. Thanks very much. Will do.
Christopher Douglas Livett B.E.M.
Sunday 21 October 2007 9:21PM Somerton
for some weeks now had trouble with the freeview box for the ITV channels 20th Oct when i tried to reboot all ITV channel 4 first went to 850 numbers then vanished from the programme list completely then on further reboot came back to their correct position on list i.e., 3,4,6,etc., BUT bad reception kept breaking up today stations still on list with no signal message displayed on screen does anyone know what is wrong?
TV sited at TA11 7AP
Peter Badley
Wednesday 24 October 2007 7:51PM Bradford-on-avon
What wrong with Ch59 Five, Five US, Five Life. etc. Signal is suddenly 40/50 % All other channel are fine. BA15
Jeffrey Glynn
Friday 2 November 2007 8:06PM Bristol
What's this new DVB service that my TV
tells me is available? (1/11/2007). I seem to re-scanning and re-setting up my Favourites every other
week (which is a tedious job).
Jeff
Briantist
Saturday 3 November 2007 4:01PM
Jeffrey Glynn: There was another minor change the lineup.
Jeffrey Glynn
Sunday 4 November 2007 1:33AM Bristol
What do you mean "Another change in the minor lineup?"
Please explain.
Briantist
Sunday 4 November 2007 11:32AM
Jeffrey Glynn: I think that there was an extra shopping channel slot added.
Jeffrey Glynn
Sunday 4 November 2007 11:40AM Bristol
Thanks, Briantist
I can do without a shpping channel.
I won't bother to re-tune.
Briantist
Sunday 4 November 2007 12:49PM
Jeffrey Glynn: It was Gems TV, which broadcasts from 6pm-noon.
Stephen
Tuesday 13 November 2007 6:45PM
Problems here ever since adding a Sony 870 HD / freeview box (never had any problems with my Pace). I've had a new arial installed, tried a signal booster etc all to no avail. Arial engineer declared my signal to be TOO strong (I can see the Mendip transmitter 9 miles away from my window) so settled for a loft insulation with passive splitter. ITV, Ch 4 etc (Mux 2) keep freezing for 5 or 6 seconds every minute. Signal strength (on the Sony) is absolutely constant at 58% strength and 100% quality on Ch 55 until it just drops completely for no apparent reason.
What can it be ? If interference from other equipment (wireless broadband ?) wouldn't all of the channels be affected ?
Briantist
Thursday 15 November 2007 9:54AM
Stephen: Please can you see this article please? Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent digital TV and switchover advice
TBear
Tuesday 4 December 2007 6:49PM
I live in TA246PX near the coast. Weather is often windy, with both analogue and Freeview signals affected during these periods. However we had a new arial fitted about 3 years ago and it appears solidly connected to the chimney when windy.
Our analogue signal is currently poor (all channels show crosshatching) even with a signal booster, and all Freeview channels other than Five, Sky Three and Virgin 1 are non-existant. The three above channels are perfect quality.

Any information about the lack of signal strength in my area or general advice would be appreciated.
David Tatlow
Friday 7 December 2007 2:37PM
I have a gl7 postcode. Due to the proximity of a large tree I have to aim at Mendip. Mux B , which includes Setanta is fine in the morning but lately has deteriorated to almost no signal strength or quality in the evening. I ve checked everthing I can think of that might be interfering but have failed to crack the problem. Anyone else experiencing the same problem?
Many thanks.
Marston
Friday 7 December 2007 4:16PM Trowbridge
I had really good reception on all Digital channels until I had to move the TV set this week (new carpet). As a result I am only getting the ITV and Channel 4 gruops of channels occasionally as the signal strength seems to drop. I notice that the strength from Mendip is described as Low for these groups. Is that temporary or permanent. Post code is BA14
Ethel
Sunday 16 December 2007 1:04PM Swindon
I'm having problems with C5 - strength of signal is approx 70%, quality is 0 - 10%
Dave
Monday 24 December 2007 12:02PM Bath
Anyone got any ideas why/how at BA2 7FG the ITV3 channel has completely disappeared BUT we've still got ITV1, C4, ITV2? How can we lose just part of a MUX? As far as I can recall, we've not installed or moved anything electrical, so I'm stumped as to how just one particular channel within MUX2 can disappear! I did a quick check on the interference pages without anything leaping out at me. Thanks.
Andrew
Sunday 6 January 2008 11:08PM
Just ater Christmas I started having problems with some of my BBC digital channels (although analogue OK). In last couple of days completely lost digital BBC1, BBC2 & Radio 1 so tonight I autotuned my freeview box and BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC News 24 all disappeared from my channel list (but BBC4 & everything else OK). So I then retuned via new installation and have now also lost ITV1, Channel 4 from my channel list. Looking on the internet it looks like I've lost MUX1 & MUX2.
How can I fix this? Is it a transmitter problem? My postcode NP20 4..
Norma Pugh
Monday 7 January 2008 4:37PM
We have had a Sagem digibox for nearly two years and have received good reception, via Mendip. We now cannot receive ITV3 on Channel 10. Can you suggest why this has disappeared. Thanks. Norma



Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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